But Wall Street, especially the rating agencies, are ignoring the realities. So, for that matter are Obama and Romney. It's coming and it won't be pretty. Things like control boards and municipal bankruptcy are popping up across the country, and will grow in number.

It's a problem for progressives. Part of the workout will involve the number of and benefits received by public workers. Republicans, mostly will blame them for the problem, and there will be very difficult choices for public sector unions, both uniformed and non-uniformed. And progressives have been slow to offer remedies other than higher taxes (on the wealthy) and the hope that a recovered economy will generate copious new revenues. Practically speaking we need more. And pretty quickly. Bankruptcy scares everybody, but unlike control boards, it brings banks and Wall Street to the table. It's a truly bad option, but so is everything else. We need some ideas and to focus political attention on this. It won't be easy.